Jock vs. Athlete

One of my friends, David, was recently looking at some of the classifications I use to define statuses of my footwear. He ran across “jock worn”, a phrase that in general when applied to footwear means I have obtained them from an athlete of some type. Now, this brought about David asking me to define “jock” and “athlete”.

The simplest definitions I can give are that an athlete is anyone who plays a sport. A jock on the other hand tends to be a certain type of person, the person must be an athlete of some type, but usually a jock plays multiple sports, or is very obsessive about HIS sport. Obsession is the point that separates an athlete from a jock. Another aspect of it is that jocks are very fraternal, they create a relationship with teammates, whereas an athlete may appreciate his team, he does not develop a meaningful relationship with them. The difference between jock and athlete has nothing to do with intelligence, many jocks are very intelligent, it is all about the dedication to sport and sport as a way of life.

There are some differences between them that are more obvious, but that have nothing to do with what makes a jock a jock. One of those is how often he wears his “jock attire”. Jocks tend to be always ready to play, no matter what. I have known guys who wear basketball shorts under their jeans in the winter, in place of boxers. Its kind of strange, but all the guy has to do is drop his pants, and he is ready to play (especially since basketball jocks tend to wear BBall sneaks no matter what, including formal events).